In Between
by RosyColoredSky
Summary: Because life isn't a comedy sketch. But it's not a drama either. Sonny/Chad.


**Hey guys! My last one shot got a pretty good response, so I'm really happy =]. This is another one-shot dedicated to Sonny and Chad. It's a little hard to follow and a little harder to write than my other one, but I gave it my all. Reviews are appreciated but not demanded. Thank you for reading! ^.^**

**-RosyColoredSky  
**

* * *

Sonny Munroe and Chad Dylan Cooper were commonly known to be method actors.

They didn't do it on purpose, but they subconsciously took on characteristics of their on screen personas. Everyone noticed this of course, but they were kind of worried that pointing it out would affect their brilliant acting. Besides, on the surface, it didn't seem to be doing any harm. Both of their shows were tween scene darlings and the ratings battle between the two kept viewers interested and the marketers happy. And it made the show s all that much better.

So most people didn't think that maybe it would be unhealthy.

Sonny, who had experienced years of low self-esteem back in Wisconsin, was tired of spending her days wondering if she would have the strength to get out of bad. Hollywood was a new start. It was time to pick herself up and be happy. Of course, she conveniently forgot her mother's lesson about extremes and how there had to be a balance. She just wanted to leave all of her darkest days behind. And to do that, she figured, why not throw herself into being funny? So she did. And slowly but surely she suppressed the lonely girl on the inside underneath one big comedy sketch.

Chad, surprisingly, had not always lived an exciting and glamorous life. In fact, it had been downright boring. Just another typical family in suburbia. A dad who works a 9-5 job. A mom who thought doing housework was her only vocation in life. An older brother who was good at sports. They even had a golden retriever. And all of those perfectly molded people had done the same thing every day. And Chad had only noticed it when he was offered a way out. Becoming scared of losing his face in a seemingly faceless family, he became determined to make his life more exciting. And if Hollywood said they needed an actor for a drama…well that's just convenient then isn't it?

And somehow along the way, they both forgot what it felt like to be in the middle.

Maybe that's why when they met each other, they didn't get along. She had been the "funny" girl and Chad had been the "dramatic" boy. He wouldn't laugh at her jokes and she wouldn't take him seriously. And because they both had left behind the part of themselves that would be able to take this lightly, their tempers immediately started battling it out. It went beyond the normal rivalry that existed between the two shows, something that the rest of the cast members couldn't understand. The two of them weren't sure they understood it themselves, but it didn't bother them enough to stop. If there was an attraction between them, neither of them mentioned it, and because they were merely caricatures of their formal selves, love wouldn't (and couldn't) work out.

Of course neither of them were counting on the incident.

One day, Sonny walked into the _So Random_ dressing room to find all of her things strewn about with a message on her mirror painted with lipstick "We liked the show better without you." And then there were other things too rude to mention. Sonny's heart had constricted and she felt like someone had bashed her across the head. Memories from Wisconsin, things she thought she had left behind, filled her to the brim and running from them didn't even seem to be an option. But it hurt. Oh, how it hurt. It hurt so much and this time Lucy wasn't here to make it go away. She knew Tawni wouldn't help her. Nico and Grady didn't have a serious bone in their bodies. They'd be supportive, but they wouldn't know what to do with themselves. And Zora…was….well, she was Zora. And suddenly Sonny found that even in her new life full of laughter, there wasn't anyone who knew how to deal with tears.

Chad had been walking through the _So Random_ studios practicing for another small but crucial role as a director of a comedy sketch show. However, he quickly stopped practicing his one line ("More… funny!") when he heard horrible sobbing from behind a closed door. Barely registering that it was a girl's dressing room, he cautiously opened the door…and the heart that he still had left had broken at the sight of Sonny Munroe huddled in a ball on the floor surrounded by her destroyed possessions. He hadn't known what to do except go over and take her in his arms. It seemed like the right thing to do at the time. And he knew it was when he felt her tremble against him with all the tears she was still trying to hold back.

And they stayed like that for the longest time. He didn't ask her to explain; she volunteered up no answers. He held her tight until her tears stopped coming and then long after that. It's how they were found God knows how much later. There had been a lot of aftermath incidents such as Marshall getting ready to blow a gasket; Nico, Grady, and Zora preparing one of the most elaborate revenge schemes in the world; Tawni _actually_ being nice….

But the only thing that Sonny and Chad recalled was the way they had been holding each other. Because for those moments right after her tears subsided and before they were found….

Sonny wasn't the sad and depressed girl from Wisconsin nor was she the comedy queen.

And Chad wasn't the perpetually bored teen from suburbia nor was he the drama king.

No…they were comfortably in the middle.

Of course they avoided each other for quite a while after that, but neither of them forgot what it felt like to be that way…

It took them quite a while to figure out that it was love.

They wouldn't be ready for a real relationship for awhile. Not until they realized that they needed to find a balance between who they were and who they turned into.

Because life isn't a comedy sketch…but it's not a drama either. No…

It's something in between.


End file.
